


Mending What's Hurt

by Aaronna



Series: Soldier of Healing [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (duh), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Androgynous!Zuko, Gen, Herbalist Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Torture, Inspired by MuffinLance's Tumblr page, No beta: we die like men, Zuko was an Awkward Turtleduck but Spirit is a Proud Dragon, trans character (implied)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26340367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronna/pseuds/Aaronna
Summary: When Zuko spoke up in that war meeting, he never expected to end up like this. Spirit didn't mind though.
Relationships: Spirit & Original Characters, Zuko (Avatar) & Original Characters
Series: Soldier of Healing [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910278
Comments: 80
Kudos: 836





	Mending What's Hurt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).



It took months for Zuko to heal and let go of his past. He gave up his title, trading Prince for Healer. He gave up his name, going from Zuko, son of Ozai and Ursa, to Spirit, the savior of the 41st division. He gave up his passion, trading his fierce devotion to pleasing his sire for his thirst to heal the damage his family had wrought. 

He was happier now he was away from the harsh tutors, Ozia and Azula's mind games, and the whispers about his failures. He had grown too, now inches taller, he was finally at ease enough with himself to bend fire the way Uncle had always said he could, stealth and acrobatics coming easier as he followed Miyuki through the forest. He was learning to fix instead of hurt, think before acting, and letting silence speak for him.

He gave up the red and gold of his childhood for white and green. He did away with his phoenix plume, allowing his hair to flow loosely, not having the heart to lose the hair his mother had loved so much. He allowed his golden eyes to define him as 'otherworldly' instead of 'Firebender'. He even let go of his insistence on seemingly as manly as possible, allowing himself to be either male or female depending on what he wanted others to think.

No one would be looking for a girl if they were searching for signs of the lost Fire Prince. Nor a boy when it was a girl who robbed them blind at Pai sho. As the Blue Spirit, he was a genderless spirit seeking to balance the power in area around Pohuai. It was a strength he never thought he would want, but he was enjoying it now that he had it.

'(•V•)'

It was amazing what a few months away from fear could do for someone. Given the way Spirit used to flinch when they thought they had done kata wrong was proof enough that they were better off living with the crazy herbalist than wherever they had come from. Bo was just shocked at how quickly Spirit went from cowering after a small mistake to raising their remaining eyebrow as if daring him to comment on it. 

The kid was an amazing bender, especially for their age. The level of control they had was impressive. They weren't as showy as most benders were expected to be, but they had tricks and practices that Bo could only dream of being able to do. 

Steep tea for an hour without an eternal flame? Warm themselves or cool off with a few breaths? Blow jets of flame from their mouth? Channel fire through blades? These were all things Spirit did without thinking and shrugged off when pointed out.

What kind of home life had the kid lived? The kid wasn't even 14 and was nearly a master, but claimed they weren't a good bender! Who had seen Spirit do these things and dismissed them? Whoever it was, Bo was willing to fight them.

Though he would have to get in line.

The survivors of the 41st had first call. Spirit had saved them from a plan that was meant to kill all of them. 3,000 men and women had one child to thank for living another day. He had been saved by Spirit too, but their claim was older.

Darkness poisoning wasn't common in the Earth Kingdom and was even rarer in the Fire Nation, but Spirit had recognized it for what it was and started treating him immediately. Bo had been trapped without Agni's light for too long and his inner fire had gone out. If Spirit had waited, Bo knows he would have died.

It took time to rebuild, but his inner fire was stronger now than it had ever been. Sparring and training with Spirit had helped a lot. Now, he was being sent back to fight the very people who had locked him underground for months, but thanks to this kid, he wasn't afraid of losing his flame again. 

He wanted to repay Spirit, but he was being sent out too soon. The child had smiled a devilish grin and purred, "All I want is a favor. Not for now, but one day." Bo was half relieved and half convinced he had sold his soul, but agreed. It was the least he could do.

'(•V•)'

Ping thought they might be in love. They had gotten caught in the middle of a skirmish between the Earth rebellion and the Fire Nation troops stationed in their village ang got injured by both sides. When the fighting stopped, they were sent to the healer near the Fire Nation fortress where they met Spirit.

Golden eyes that seemed to look straight to the heart of what was happening, ignoring everything else. Features that left you wondering if they were even human or an actual cat in human flesh. The burn only added to the mystery. Spirit was everything Ping could hope to be.

The young healer was distant, but affectionate in a professional way that pleased something deep in Ping's chest. If Spirit wasn't a child… Oh well. Maybe one day.

If all the soldiers, both of Fire and Earth, could accept the child, who was to say they wouldn't accept Ping? They weren't some delicate flower vase that would shatter if touched wrong, they were a willow that bent with the wind, never breaking. It wasn't something they had thought about before, but what was stopping them from joining the fight? 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

'(•V•)'

Kinto hadn't taken the fact he had been being treated by an ashmaker very well. There may have been some cursing and yelling involved. But given he had just been rescued from a Fire Nation prison, it was understandable. 

He hadn't been awake much since being freed, so he hadn't seen the fire brat gently burn off the lice fleas and worm mites that he had been infested with. He hadn't known the young healer had washed his hair and untangled it gently instead of shearing the matted mess off. He certainly was unaware that the same child he had screamed about had broken into the Pohuai Stronghold to read scrolls about the kinds of food eaten by the Watertribe nor that the kid had been up all night from fishing to make him the stew he had just had.

He had gotten a tonguelashing from some of the other patients, but oddly enough it was the girl who quieted them down. Her soft, gravelly voice was so different from the loud, clear orders he had lived with for the past few years. He wanted to apologize in his mind, but his heart wouldn't let him.

He spent the next few days watching the girl. After the second one, he knew her name was Spirit and she had only worked with the old herbalist for a few months. On day three, they received a group of injured Earthbenders, who barely tolerated that there were firebenders in the region, let alone in the building with them, which was how the 'incident' happened. 

Spirit had been out of Kinto's sight, so he didn't see what started the yelling other than the girl was a bender and not just Fire Nation, which the water tribesmen had assumed from the start. It was obvious to the former prisoner, but that could be due to how long he spent with them, but these earth soldiers were all up in arms over it, which had all the patients in an uproar. And that last fact seemed to be what was upsetting the young healer.

She was ordering the lot of them back into their beds, which was having the opposite effect on everyone. That was when Spirt threw her head back and roared a jets of flame, which stopped everyone except the old herbalist, who acted like none of it was happening. Swords were pulled from their hiding place beneath raven hair and the Earthbenders were escorted back to bed at swordpoint.

That was when the whispers started about the Spirit that saved the young soldiers at the Battle at outside of Omashu a few months back.

The Tale of the Slaughter at Shu Valley was one Kinto knew from his last few weeks in prison. The Fire Lord had sent several thousand teenage Colony and fire village benders into the valley as bait for an elite group of Earthbenders. It was said the late Prince Zuko had moved the camp into the forest where a spirit of the forest protected its guests. It hid the youngest fighters from being buried and forced the earth to return many of those it couldn't hide. They also said the youngest of them all was a healer.

Suddenly, the girl made sense. The complete lack of fear when they yelled at her. Compared to that day, a few injured benders wasn't an issue. Spirit had survived a massacre and saved a lot of her countrymen at the same time. The Savior of the 41st division was branded saving a life and this young woman had a handprint etched into her face with fire.

Oddly enough, that comforted Kinto. He couldn't fault someone from being hurt that badly trying to help and keep doing it despite the chance of it happening again. He hadn't wanted to face Fire Nation soldiers again, but if Spirit could face Earthbenders AND fire again after what she had been through, so could he. Also, he had an apology to give.

'(•V•)'

Momma was gone. The aunty with the white hair and the kitty boy couldn't save her. Papa said Momma fell, but Ito fell down all the time and never died. Now Ito had to live with Papa without Mamma to help him hide when things got loud.

Maybe now that Momma was gone, Papa wouldn't make it get loud anymore. Ito would miss Mamma bunches and bunches, but he wouldn't miss the noise. The sounds meant hurts and stories.

Kitty boy was nice and let him pet the real cat. Ito had seen cat owls, but never a just cat. She was soft and warm and made funny sounds that made Ito less sad while the kitty boy asked about Momma. Ito didn't know he was supposed to tell stories until Papa hit him.

That made kitty boy mad and there was a lot of noise, but kitty boy stopped more hurts from coming when he turned into a dragon and made Papa leave. Aunty got a nice man to bury Mamma near Baby Sister then Miss Tu Li came. She and kitty boy said Ito was going to live with Miss Tu Li and her family and Papa was going to go help King Bumi.

Kitty boy promised Papa would make the noise happen anymore. He said his Papa made it loud like that too. He lived with Aunty now like Ito was going to live with Miss Tu Li. If someone as big and nice as kitty boy said it was alright, he would live there. He would miss Mamma, but it was nice to have Miss Tu Li and Papa going away.

'(•V•)'

Tu Li had always known she would never have children of her own. She had too many fevers as a child to not be barren everyone told her growing up. It was something everyone knew.

Her husband said he didn't mind not having kids. He had known it wasn't an option when he married her, but she saw the longing in his eyes as kids played outside of their tailor shop. That was why she went to see the herbalist in the mountain. 

She had expected an examination and then to be told there was no hope like the last two physicians. Instead, she was handed a cat to pet as a teenager asked about her cycle. Embarrassed after answering, Tu Li asked what was next, hoping it would be the old woman who was going to examine her and not the child across from her.

She was confused when instead of an old lady looking under her skirt like all the midwives had, she was given a box of tea and told that her and her husband should drink it two times a day for two full moons and to come back when she knew she was carrying. Blinking in confusion, she asked how tea would fix her heat barrenness. The healer raised the remaining eyebrow in a way that showed just how yellow their eyes were and said it was a common remedy back home.

Suddenly, it had clicked in her mind. Firebenders were always as hot as any feverish person, yet women firebenders had children all the time. This was it. She could have a baby.

That was four full moons ago. She hadn't had a cycle in two, but she hadn't told her husband yet. As instructed, she went back to the herbalist. 

She had expected to be confused again and she wasn't disappointed. Somehow, she was going home with herbs to help with the baby and a 3-year-old little boy with a bruise on his face. Tu Li wasn't sure how Spirit did it, but the dread of never having children was chased off by the chuckles of the toddler in her arms and the knowing feeling in her belly.

When she asked how she was to repay them, the pair looked confused. The teenager then explained that her taking the boy Ito off their hands was her payment and Tu Li suddenly wondered if Spirit was the child's name or what they were. She felt like she was in an old spirit story, but bowed her thanks.

Her husband wasn't going to believe her when she told him, but that was fine. She was a mother now. A fulfilled childhood dream she thought was long shattered had been pierced back together with the help of gold eyes and tea.

In her mind, she was already calling her baby Kintsu, Golden One. 

'(•V•)'

Spirit wasn't sure when he truly stopped thinking of himself as Zuko, former prince of the Fire Nation. Was it training with Bo and finding firebenging was finally fun? Maybe when he met Ping, the daughter who wanted to fight as her father had? Perhaps it was when he saw the cruelty of his own nation as he helped Kinto regain his dignity? Possibly when Tu Li clung to the box of red raspberryrose leaf tea with thankful tears in her eyes? 

All he was sure of was that it was before he watched a woman beaten by her husband die. He knew those bruises from the maids who had been asked to stay the night with nobles in the palace. He also saw his own father's influence on the toddler he and Miyuki had tried to distract. Throwing the man out of the greenhouse exhaling smoke felt like he had finally given up on Ozai and he had finally felt whole.

Prince Zuko died the day his father sent him away to clear Azula's way to the throne. Zuko died in flames as he saved his people. Zuko's ghost was put to rest as Spirit slowly fixed the hurts in the world. Zuko had been Fire Nation, but Spirit was a wild child born of chaos and raised in comfort and healing. 

Spirit was going to heal the world. He didn't know when or how, but he knew. It was his destiny and one he would gladly follow.


End file.
